Three Stocks to Consider

I attended and presented at the World MoneyShow in Orlando, FL last Thursday. It was great meeting with investors, hearing their take as well as their concerns about the market -- slowing growth and a stretched market valuation. And, yes, it was great to get out of the cold that blanketed the District of Columbia and New Jersey over the last few weeks. As part of my Where is the Economy and Where the #%^* is it Going? presentation, I closed with three stocks that I really like. Here we go. First off was Qualcomm (QCOM). I simply love the push-pull of the company's chipset business and high margin licensing-royalty business. The two lead to significant cash generation that has allowed Qualcomm to steadily increase its dividend and fund it stock buyback programs. The core business -- mobile and connective chipsets -- is more fertile than ever as mobile connectivity moves from just smartphones and tablets to cars, the home, wearables, eHealth and industrial markets a la the Internet of Everything. On one of the public company panels I hosted at the MoneyShow, General Electric (GE) discussed the growth in its Internet of Everything business, and how it sees no slowdown there. As good as Qualcomm's business is, it's only going to get better once it closes the pending CSR plc. acquisition that should boost its Bluetooth capabilities and round out its product offerings. One audience member asked about what to do with his Qualcomm shares given the recent pullback. My response was to use it as a buying opportunity to scale into the position while, if possible, reducing the cost basis in the process. The second company I talked about was American Water Works (AWK), the largest publicly-traded water utility. I also call it a dividend dynamo because of its dividend-increasing track record. This stock has been a monster of a hit over the last the last few years, no matter how you look at it and I see it continuing to deliver both earnigns and dividend growth. The company is in a great position to consolidate the fragmented water utility industry and benefit from the need to upgrade the U.S. water infrastructure, which received a grade of D- from The American Society of Civil Engineers. While we are hearing about more snow pain in the Northeast this week, the latest from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that as of February 3, about 56% of the country is experiencing drought conditions. I see that as good for the core business that stretches across 16 states at American Water Works. The last company that I shared with the audience was Lifelock (LOCK). There is no question that cyber attacks and identity theft poses a growing threat. Just this morning I heard about how vulnerable cars could be to such attacks given the growing number of sensors in vehicles. Add to that Anthem's breach late last week and it seems we need to be on guard more than ever. Lifelock will report its December-quarter earnings tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 10). Current expectations have the company earning $0.27 per share on revenue of $128.6 million. As we've seen this earnings season, the outlook will be as important as the quarterly results. But given the more than 90 cyber attack in January alone as reported by Hackmaggedon.com, Real Money Pro subscribers should look to take advantage of any pullback in LOCK shares. Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be sharing the notables and somewhat quotables from the two public company panels that I moderated at the World MoneyShow that featured Proctor & Gamble (PG), General Electric (GE), Aflac (AFL), American Water Works (AWK), Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE), and Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (CIG)

Three Stocks to Consider

Qualcomm's core business -- mobile and connective chipsets -- is more fertile than ever

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